© 2025
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Strange Universe With Bob Berman
Strange Universe

Saturn made easy

By Bob Berman
Published October 5, 2025 at 11:09 PM EDT
1 of 1  — SU SATURN.jpg
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Saturn Made Easy: Saturn is a stunning sight through any telescope with more than 30x magnification—something photos can’t quite capture. It’s usually hard to spot, dimmer than Jupiter or Venus and less colorful than Mars, but now is the perfect time to see it. Saturn is closest to Earth and visible just below the Moon. Its famous rings, currently angled edgewise—a rare view that happens only every 15 years—appear as a straight bright line across the planet. Finding Saturn is easy: just look for the Moon.

Tags
Strange Universe GalaxiesplanetNASA
Bob Berman
See stories by Bob Berman
Related Content
  • Strange Universe With Bob Berman
    Center of the action
    Bob Berman
    Until the 20th century, astronomers ignored the interiors of things. They had to. Telescopes only showed outermost layers.Scientists knew that a ball's "inside" constitutes virtually all its mass, but basic questions went unanswered: What, for example, lay below the dazzling solar surface? What mysteries might be found in the core of galaxies?
  • Strange Universe With Bob Berman
    Closest point to Earth
    Bob Berman
    If you're hearing this on Sunday, Saturn is at its closest point to Earth, and its rings appear as a straight white line due to their edge-on alignment — a rare event that occurs every 15 years during its equinox. Earth’s own equinox arrives Monday at 2:10 PM, marking the start of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. This equinox often falls on the 22nd or 23rd because, as Kepler explained, Earth speeds up in its orbit when closer to the sun in January and slows down in July. That means winter is shorter than summer by about a week — a fact disguised by our calendar and the uneven placement of long and short months.
  • Strange Universe With Bob Berman
    A lunar standstill
    Bob Berman
    This year brings a rare lunar event called the Lunar Standstill, which happens only once every 18.5 years. Due to the Moon’s wobbling orbit aligning with Earth’s tilt, the Moon is reaching extreme positions in the sky. Recently, it appeared unusually low at first quarter, the third quarter Moon stood directly overhead—something typically impossible from the continental U.S. Even in daylight, the Moon remains high and visible, especially through sunglasses, offering a striking sight in the sky.